This invention generally relates to the sectioning of long-stemmed vegetables with flowery heads such as broccoli.
In the processing of broccoli and other similar vegetables for packaging and sale the vegetables are sectioned longitudinally and the stems thereof trimmed. For many years, this processing was done manually but the costs for such labor intensive operations have become extremely high. Equipment has been proposed for sectioning and trimming broccoli, but for the most part such equipment could not efficiently and effectively section broccoli at commercially acceptable rates without generating an excessive amount of vegetable debris or without damaging the fragile flowery head of the vegetable.
Devices for cutting and sectioning broccoli are described in the following references: U.S. Pat. No. 3,252,491 (Wooldridge); U.S. Pat. No. 3,380,500 (Alpen); U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,794 (Alpen); U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,977 (Goodale); U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,323 (Kesson et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,88,851 (Goodale); U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,929 (Goudarzi et al.).
While devices proposed in the aforesaid patents may have been improvements over manual trimming and sectioning of vegetables, the need remains for equipment which can continuously process such vegetables at commercially acceptable production rates without generating excessive amounts of vegetable debris or damaging the flowery heads of the vegetables. The present invention satisfies this need.